There’s a New Virtual Reality Headset for Your iPhone, and It’s Here Just in Time

Apple is not wasting any time in their race to beat Google for user experience and simplicity. Occipital, a San Francisco-based Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality startup, just unveiled its new Bridge Virtual Reality headset, which will work exclusively with iPhone.

According to Hothardware.com, the Bridge Virtual Reality packs in both mixed reality and 6DoF (degrees of freedom) positionally-tracked virtual reality technologies. The device has various camera enhancements built-in, expanding the iPhone’s capabilities significantly for mixed reality applications.

It features a 326 PPI resolution; 60 fps refresh rate and a PMMA Optical-Grade Acrylic lens, and it supports iOS 9 or higher.

The “Bridge” got its name from what Occipital define as the ability to bridge between reality and fantasy. The device is meant to allow the user to immerse in the virtual world while maintaining the comfort of awareness of the real world. In other words, it offers a “Mixed Reality” experience, which seems to be the new frontier.

What makes it unique in comparison to everything we’ve seen up until now is the Occipital structure sensor, which adds inside-out positional tracking that allows user to move around in real space without external sensors. In other words, we will now be able to actually walk around inside a VR experience.

It will begin shipping in March 2017, and will cost $279 without a structure sensor and $399 with one.

The Virtual Reality Solution for Your iPhone Takes Some Pressure off of Apple

According to a new Bloomberg report, Apple has ordered small quantities of near-eye displays to test its concept, but the amount ordered was not significant enough to believe Apple plans on mass producing anything of the sort anytime soon.

Looks like the “Bridge” announcement comes right on time. It allows Apple more time to perfect their VR Glasses while still maintaining the hype, pick up where Google left off, and learn from their competitors’ mistakes.

Omri is the Head of Demand Generation, as well as the Lead Author & Editor of the SaaSAddict Blog. Omri established the SaaSAddict blog to create a source for news and discussion about some of the issues, challenges, news, and ideas relating to SaaS and cloud migration.